The Flag of Distress Part 41

"Well, old pal! what d'ye think of our present employ? Better than breakin' stone for them Swan River roads, with twenty pound of iron chain clinkin' at a fellow's ankles. An't it?"

"Better'n that, yes; but not's good as it might be."

"Tut, man, you're always grumblin'. Five thousand dollars for a trip that isn't like to run up to a month--not more than a fortnight or three weeks, I should say! If that don't content you, I'd like to know what would."

"Well, mate; I'll tell'ee what wud. _Thirty_ thousand for the trip.

An' Jack Striker an't like to be satisfied wi' anythin' much short o'

that sum."

"You're joking, Jack?"

"No, I an't, Bill. As you knows, I'm not o' the jokin' sort; an' now mean what I say, sartin as I ever meant anythin' in my life. Both me an' you oughter get thirty thousand apiece o' this yellow stuff--that at the werry least."

"Why, there wouldn't be enough to go round the lot that's in."

"Yes, thar wud, an' will. Old as I am, I hain't yit quite lost hearin'.

My yeers are as sharp as they iver wor, an' jist as reliable. Larst night I heerd a whisper pa.s.s atween Padilla an' another o' them Spanish chaps, that's put me up to somethink."

"What did you hear?"

"That the swag'll tot up to the total o' three hundred thousand dollars."

"The deuce it will! Why, they said it wasn't half that much. Padilla himself told me so."

"No matter what he's told you. I tell ye now, it's all o' the six figures I've sayed. In coorse, it's their interest to make it out small as they possibly can; seein' as our share's to be a percentage. I know better now; an' knowin' it, an't agoin' to stan' none o' theer nonsense.

Neyther shud you, Bill. We both o' us are 'bout to risk the same as any o' the t'others."

"That's true enough."

"In coorse it is. An' bein' so, we oughter share same as them; can, an'

will, if we stick well thegither. It's jest as eezy one way as t'other."

"There's something in what you say, mate."

"Theer's every thin' in it, an' nothin' more than our rights. As I've sayed, we all risk the same, an' that's gettin' our necks streetched.

For if we make a mucker o' the job, it'll be a hangin' matter sure. An'

I dar say theer's got to be blood spilt afore it's finished."

"What would you advise our doing? You know, Jack, I'll stand by you, whatever you go in for."

"Well; I want it to be a fair divide, all round; detarmined it sh.e.l.l be.

Why shud the four Spanish fellas get a dollar more'n us others? As I've obsarved, two of them, Gomez an' Hernandez, have set theer eyes on the weemen folks. It's eezy to see that's part o' theer game. Beside, I heerd them talkin' o't. Gomez be arter the light girl, an' Hernandez the dark un. 'Bout that, they may do as they like for ought's I care.

But it's all the more reezun why they oughtent be so greedy 'bout the s.h.i.+nin' stuff. As for Mister Gomez, it's plain he's the head man o' the lot; an' the second mate, who engaged us, is only same's the others, an'

'pears to be controlled by him. 'Twar 'tween them two I overheerd the confab; Gomez sayin' to Padilla that the dust lyin' snug in the cabin-lockers was full valley for three hundred thousan'. An' as theer's eleven o' us to share, that 'ud be nigh on thirty thousan'

apiece, if my 'rithmetic an't out o' recknin'. Bill Davis; I say, we oughter stan' up for our rights."

"Certainly we should. But there'll be difficulty in getting them, I fear."

"Not a bit--not a morsel, if we stick out for 'em. The four Spanyards means to go snacks 'mong themselves. But theer be seven o' us outsiders; an' when I tell the others what I've tolt you, they'll be all on our side--if they an't the foolishest o' fools."

"They won't be that, I take it. A difference of twenty thousand dollars or so in their favour, will make them sensible enough. But what's to be the upshot, or, as they call it in the theatre play-bills, what's the programme!"

"Well, mate, so far as I've been put up to it, we're to run on till we get to the coast, somewheer near the Issmus o' Panyma. Theer we'll sight land, and soon's we do, the s.h.i.+p's to be scuttled--we first securin' the swag,' an' takin' it ash.o.r.e in one o' the boats. We're to land on some part o' the coast that's known to Gomez, he says. Then we're to make for some town, when we've got things straight for puttin'

in appearance in a explainable way. Otherways, we might get pulled up, an' all our trouble 'ud be for nowt. Worse, every man-Jack on us 'ud have a good chance to swing for it."

"And the young ladies?"

"They're to go along wi' Gomez an' Hernandez. How they mean to manage it, I can't tell ye. They'll be a trouble, no doubt, as allers is wi'

weemen, an' it be a pity we're hampered wi' 'em; mor'n that, it's reg'lar dangersome. They may get the hul kit o' us into a sc.r.a.pe.

Howsever, we'll hev to take our chances, since theer's no help for it.

The two chaps 'pear to be reg'lar struck with 'em. Well, let 'em carry off the gurls an' welcome. But, as I've sayed, thet oughter make 'em less objectin' to a fair divide o' the dust."

"What's to be done with the others--the old Spaniard and skipper, with the black cook and first mate?"

"They're to go down wi' the s.h.i.+p. The intenshun is, to knock all o' 'em on the head, soon's we come in sight o' land."

"Well, Jack, for the first three I don't care a bra.s.s farthing. They're foreigners and blacks; therefore, nothing to us. But, as Blew chances to be a countryman of ours, I'd rather it didn't go so hard with him."

"Balderdash, Bill Davis! What have you or me to do wi' feelins o' that sort? Countryman, indeed! A fine country, as starves ten millions o'

the like o' us two; an' if we try to take what by nateral right's our own, sends us out o' it wi' handcuffs round our wrists, an' iron jewellery on our ankles! All stuff an' psalm-singin' that 'bout one's own country, an' fella-countryman. If we let him off, we might meet him somewhere, when we an't a-wantin' to. He'll have to be sarved same as the t'other three. There be no help for't, if we don't want to have hemp roun' our thrapples."

"I suppose you're right, Striker; though it does seem a pity too. But what reason have the Spaniards for keepin' the thing back? Why should they wait till we get down by Panama? As the yellow stuff's lyin'

ready, sure it might be grabbed at once, an' then we'd have more time to talk of how it's to be divided? What's the difficulty about our taking it now?"

"'Tant the takin' o' it. That'll be eezy work; an' when the time comes, we'll have it all our own way. We could toss the four overboard in the skippin' o' a flea. But then, how's the s.h.i.+p to be navvygated without the skipper an' first mate?"

"Surely we can do without them?"

"That's jest what we can't. O' all our crew, theer's only them two as hev the knowledge o' charts an' chronometers, an' the like; for him as is actin' second confesses he don't know nothin' 'bout sich. Tharfor, though we're in a good sound craft, without the skipper, or Blew, we'd be most as good as helpless. We're now on the biggest o' all oceans, an' if we stood on the wrong tack, we might niver set eyes on land--or only to be cast away on some dangersome sh.o.r.e. Or, what 'ud be bad as eyther, get overhauled by some man-o'-war, an' not able to gie account o' ourselves. Theer's the diffyculty, don't 'ee see, Bill? For thet reezun the Spanyards have agreed to let things alone till we've ran down nigh Panyma. Theer Gomez says he knows o' a long streetch o'

uninhabited coast, where we'll be safe goin' ash.o.r.e."

"Well, I suppose that'll be the best way, after all. If a man has the money, it don't make much difference where he sets foot on sh.o.r.e; an' no doubt we'll find sport down at Panyma, good as anywheres else."

"Theer ye be right, Bill. When a cove's flush there's pleasurin'

iverywhere. Goold's the only thing as gives it."

"With the prospect of such big plunder, we can afford to be patient,"

says Davis resignedly.

"I an't agoin' to be patient for the paltry five thousand they promised.

No, Bill; neyther must you. We've equal rights wi' the rest, an' we must stan' out for 'em."

"Soon as you say the word, Jack, I'm at your back. So'll all the others, who're in the same boat with ourselves."

"They oughter, an' belike will; tho' theer's a weak-witted fool or two as may take talkin' into it. I means to go at 'em the night, soon's I've finished my trick at the wheel, the which 'll soon be on. Ay!

theer's the bells now! I must aft. When I come off, Bill, you be up by the night-heads, an' have that Dutch chap as is in our watch 'long wi'

ye; an' also the Dane. They're the likeliest to go in wi' us at oncet, an' we'll first broach it to them."

"All right, old pal; I'll be there."